


Making Amends

by slaparoniandcheese



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda?, also theres a cute rabbit so, an important conversation is had, but its cute i promise, dad ronin!! dad ronin!! dad ro-, everyone in this fic needs therapy, i might eventually write a little 2nd chapter, i wrote this while my internet was down, if that sweetens the deal for any of yall asjkjdnskj, nya is this close to snapping both of their necks, ronin has ptsd, uh. - Freeform, where nya and zane have a conversation similar to the one she has with ronin, zane has autism (implied), zane has ptsd, zane is so smart. but so stupid.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 10:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20813990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slaparoniandcheese/pseuds/slaparoniandcheese
Summary: Fic centered around Ronin, Zane, and Nya. Includes braincell and Criminal Dad™ Ronin.Ronin doubted for the past fifteen or twenty years that he had it anywhere in his pathetic, rusty little heart to feel genuine sympathy for another sentient being, but apparently the robot was an exception. He wasn’t even sure if he could even think of the thing as anything past a walking, talking repository of potential funds, let alone a living person, but whoever made it- him- must’ve been either an artist or a sadist, because he was way too realistic for Ronin’s comfort.





	Making Amends

Ronin doubted for the past fifteen or twenty years that he had it anywhere in his pathetic, rusty little heart to feel genuine sympathy for another sentient being, but apparently the robot was an exception. He wasn’t even sure if he could even think of the thing as anything past a walking, talking repository of potential funds, let alone a living person, but whoever made it- him- must’ve been either an artist or a sadist, because he was way too realistic.

He and tin man got stuck patrolling the north end of the woods, and Ronin would’ve just left him behind and let him find his own way back if he didn’t believe with one hundred percent certainty that Nya would gut him if her boyfriend came back looking like anything below the pinnacle of health and happiness. When the two had gotten paired up, Zane regarded him with nothing less than perfect politeness, but the tension in his shoulders and restrained anxiety in his eyes hadn’t quite slipped past his view. Apparently they hadn’t slipped past Nya’s either, because when the blonde’s back was turned she gave Ronin "the look".

It was probably for the best anyway- he knew when to call off a fight, when he’d lost, and he knew there was no way he’d be able to actually knock the guy off his trail. He seemed smarter than his teammates (and a good fighter, the man was willing to admit) (and, okay, sure, he made really good food), but once in a blue moon he apparently turned into six and a quarter feet of stupid, because he had spotted something in his peripheral and instantly bolted across a barely-frozen lake with exactly zero regard for basic common sense and- surprise, surprise- plunged into the water with a tinny crack as the flimsy sheet of ice broke underneath him. 

Ronin froze, unsure, for what might have been a solid twenty seconds, but when the android didn’t resurface, he groaned, tossed his money onto the dry grass, and forced his legs to carry him into the shallow end of the water. The portion was shielded by large, swooning trees, protected from the cold and still unfrozen, and he waded through the lake until he had to start paddling to the area where his companion fell. At first he was confused and, frankly, aggravated. The spot was deep enough to sink into, sure, but Zane was about half the size of a skyscraper and shouldn’t have been making him swim through an eight-foot-deep pool of frozen water in a virtuous act of heroism. 

Something tugged on his leg - cool and a little abrasive, like sandpaper - and every trace of irritation was replaced by discomfort, then realization, then dread. 

The kid was stuck in the reeds. 

This time he moved without hesitation, kicking aside drifts of ice until he could easily work his way through a sizable patch of grey water without worrying about not being able to find it on the way up. The man was pretty sure Zane didn’t need to breathe, but he still doubted that he would hold up well tangled up down there for very long. He pushed himself underneath, hoping against all hope that his body wouldn’t lock up in the cold, and felt around in the dark, grateful for the small bit of light that the white winter sun offered between the tree branches, until he touched something that jerked underneath his hands. He grabbed it and pulled upward, tearing away strips of plant life as he struggled to free what he hoped was a still-attached limb rather than something lost under the wrath of the jagged rocks and broken bottles that littered the lake’s floor. Eventually something must have snapped free, because he felt an arm or a leg force him upwards with renewed strength, and he returned the favor by clutching at the body as he swam the short distance back up. 

The thief stiffly resurfaced and finally yanked Zane through the shallows with motives sitting somewhere between desperation and fury. He wiped at his stinging eye, but found his hands unhelpful, burning and covered with stretches of deep cuts. Likely he had gotten them while he was tearing away at the reeds. Behind him, he could hear the boy in question collapse onto the frosty grass. Startlingly, ineluctably, anger overtook sympathy. He span around, eyes bleary but blazing, and faced the young man on the grass. “You,” he spat, “you are the most idiotic, worthless pile of scrap metal I have ever met in my life. You know that? I-” His voice shook. “I am going to-” Kill you. He almost said it. Almost, but he looked down and Zane looked scared. Not openly terrified, exactly, or even surprised, but just… scared. Submissive, as if being quiet and acceptant would somehow lessen the blow. He looked at him like-

-like he was Chen-

Ronin shook off the thought, stomach coiling in disgust and, traitorously, guilt. He had tried not to think about Chen, about dragging Zane’s lifeless form out of the rubble and putting it on the market, about the horror in the android’s cornflower eyes when he saw him at the monastery for the first time, like he had forgotten where he was-

(“Long time, no see, right tin can?” he had laughed. “Fancy new gig ya got there, wouldn’t happen to be interested in another business venture, would you?”)-

(Nya had screamed at him for hours for that, all fury and fire, and then she quieted, her face etched with sadness and disappointment, she didn’t speak to him for days, and he felt so- so-) 

(Sorry) 

He registered Zane blinking up at him expectantly before he registered the tremors wracking his legs, his chest, his hands, his spine, his head, and he plopped gracelessly onto the ground, still bitter but suddenly very, very tired. He glanced up at the sky, then at the boy in front of him, who was no less a child than Nya. The man’s heart clenched- the white ninja looked like death warmed over, traces of frost clutching to his dark face and eyes drooping with exhaustion, and he was clutching something to his chest. Ronin’s eyes narrowed. “What is that? If that’s the thing you got us stuck under the water for, it better be good and it better be worth a lot of money because-” 

Zane gently lowered his hands from his chest and revealed what looked to Ronin like a sopping wet rat. Unsure if he was seeing the thing right, he squinted and then jerked back in surprise. “Are you f- is that a rabbit?” 

The blonde looked at him for only a moment before returning his attention to the animal. “Yes,” he murmured, squeezing some of the water from his sleeve and using it to dry its fur. 

“Why?”

“She’s just a baby, and when I scanned the area I didn’t see a mother anywhere nearby. I was worried she would fall through and get hurt or be unable to find food during the winter.”

“So you ran across a frozen lake.”

“Yes.”

Ronin placed his face in his hands and groaned, feeling all his forty three years. He was too old to be hanging out with dumb, chipper teenagers who spent their time doing… whatever Zane did. Probably baking cupcakes for orphans and helping old women carry their groceries. 

“I’m sorry.” 

The thief parted his fingers and peeked through at the figure in front of him. The poor kid looked sincere, face set into a sorrowful little frown, and… honestly, Ronin couldn’t find it in himself to lecture him after all that (not that it was his job in the first place- if Wu didn’t want a scraggly ball of fur in his house then those puppy eyes were his to deal with), so instead he just said, “That’s what you get for being so lanky. You should get some weight training from that one friend of yours… Cole, he’s a big guy. Maybe if you weighed more than two pounds you wouldn’t have to worry about getting murked by seaweed.” 

Zane blinked at him, opened his mouth, then closed it again. The rabbit wriggled in his hands, and he gave it a little peck on the forehead. Ronin made a face, but he figured that if the guy couldn’t catch any diseases then it didn’t really matter. The blonde looked up at him and smiled, eyes alight. “What should we name her?”

“Wh- no, no, I’m not involved in this-”

“I was thinking maybe Mouse, because she is so small.”

“No.”

“Or Cocoa, because she is brown. Like chocolate.”

“I’m not helping you with this.”

“I think Cocoa is good.”

“I will leave you out here in the woods.”

“I love you, Cocoa,” Zane cooed softly to the animal. “You are a very nice rabbit and soon I will get you some food and a warm blanket to sleep in.” 

Ronin’s eye twitched. At first he thought that the white ninja was just oblivious, but there was a tiny smile on his lips and a glint of humor in his eyes. He found himself less annoyed than he wished he was and a lot more pleased. “I guess it’s good to know that Nya isn’t dating a boring prude like I thought.”

Zane quirked a brow at him. “I am not a… prude.” He replied, sounding like he had never uttered the word in his life. 

“No? Have you and Nya ever kissed?” He asked, trying to sound casual, but also genuinely wondering. He was maybe just a tad protective over the water ninja. 

The boy flushed a bright blue. “I- um… on the cheek, sometimes, and things like that.”

He couldn’t help it. “Things like that?”

The blush deepened. “Never on the mouth or anything. Just- um- yes. And we- we hug each other. That’s nice.” 

Ronin grinned at the stammer in the usually eloquent boy’s tone. Clearly he didn’t have to worry about things going too far between the two- the poor kid looked mortified at the mere thought of discussing his love life. He remembered Nya once mentioning that he toted a Bible everywhere, but in his opinion you could never be too careful when it came to teenage boys. “What do you do on dates then, recite Psalms to each other?” he teased.

Zane frowned, looking slightly affronted. “I like the Psalms.” 

The thief barked out a laugh and pushed himself onto his feet, drying his hat to the greatest extent he could and scooping up his coins from where he left them on the grass. “Well, you’ll have plenty of time to tell me all about them on our trip back home, throughout which we will be soaking wet because somebody decided to take a swim in subzero temperatures.”

“My systems tell me that it is 37 degrees outside, not-”

“Can it. We have a long way back and I need to think of a way to get Nya not to kill me when she sees you half-frozen.” 

Zane bit his lip nervously. “I am… in a similar position.”

“Oh yeah? What is she gonna get you for?”

He stood up, careful not to drop Cocoa. “She has been… diligent, recently, in ordering me to preserve my wellbeing.” 

“How dare she.” 

Zane gave him a look before continuing. “She might yell at me.” 

“Well, she’s definitely going to yell at me, so don’t think I’ll be playing any violins for you.”

“I would never, sir.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Understood, Mr. Criminal.” 

“I hope Nya stabs you.”

Zane giggled and Ronin tried not to pay too much attention to the satisfaction that he felt knowing that he had gotten the android to laugh. He was getting soft. 

On the long walk back, he learned more about Zane than the three things he knew before, which were: (one) he was dating Nya, (two) if he ever hurt Nya Ronin would make sure he never felt happiness again, and (three) he liked the Psalms. He apparently knew first aid and how to work with the environment, having patched up Ronin’s hand after arguing with him about the likelihood of an infection (“It’ll be fine, seriously, I don’t want you mother henning me for the next hour.” “I would understand why you might think so, seeing as the increase of age correlates with a decrease in the likelihood of infection-” “Screw you.” “-but this is in fact due to a related increase in the time spent in the hospital, and thus it can be presumed that medical treatment would be most beneficial for your wellbeing.”). He liked birds a lot, and flowers and snow and butterflies. He whistled Christmas music when he was bored and hummed songs Ronin had never heard before. He was also awkward, unsure, terrible at small talk and yet somehow Ronin could tell that he was one of those people who could charm the most backbiting person on Earth just by being in the same room. Jerk. Also, his fidgeting really looked more like stimming, which was… interesting to see in an android. He wondered if it would be okay to ask Nya about that. The kid was okay, he guessed. He could deal with him. 

When they finally got back to the monastery, Zane hesitated at the door and Ronin gave an ‘after you’ gesture. The boy glared back, but turned the knob and walked in. Kai turned around on the couch to look at them. “Hey, what took you so-” The brunette stopped when he saw them. “Oh. That’s what took you so long. What happened?” 

“Our buddy here decided to try scuba diving.” The man replied, and Zane gave him a withering look. 

Kai stared. “Zane,” he began slowly. “Is that a rabbit? Did you jump into the water in the middle of January for that thing?” 

“What?” 

Ronin jerked his head to the side and made eye contact with a very not-happy Nya. He looked at the white ninja, but he just reciprocated the same gesture that Ronin gave him. After you. He turned back to the water ninja with what he hoped was his best casual smile. “Oh, Nya, how are you doing-”

“You let my boyfriend jump into a lake?”

No such luck. “He didn’t really jump in,” he answered helplessly. “He ran across the ice and fell.”

“You ran across a frozen lake?” She shrieked, now looking at Zane, who was half-hiding behind a wall.

“Sort of.” He replied meekly. 

“Sort of,” she echoed dryly.

The blonde swallowed and averted his gaze guiltily. “You were gone for a long time. I was worried about you.” Nya said, firm but more gentle than before.

“I’m sorry,” Zane said softly, earnestly. Nya’s gaze softened. Lucky duck, Ronin thought. He couldn’t puppy-eye his way out of this.

She pulled him in for a half-hug. “I know, I know. I’m sorry for yelling, but you can’t just…” she trailed off. “Is that a rabbit?” 

“Yes. Her name is Cocoa. Ronin helped me name her.”

“I didn’t. Your boyfriend is delusional, Nya.”

Kai snorted from the couch. 

Nya ignored him in favor of staring down Zane, who was starting to blush. “If you don’t like Cocoa, I think Chip is nice too.” 

At that she just sighed and pushed a stray hair out of his face. “You need new clothes. Both of you. Ronin, you have some, right?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Got a few outfits I leave here just in case.”

“Alright. Zane, go take a shower and put on some dry clothes. We’ll talk more about this later.” 

He shrunk slightly and Nya pinched his ribs, eliciting a squirm and a startled laugh. She smiled at him and kissed his temple. “Stop that. You’re not in trouble. Mostly. I just don’t want you to stay cold.” 

Zane nodded and deposited Cocoa carefully onto a blanket on the couch. “I’ll be fast.” He promised, and darted in the direction of his room. Nya watched him go and turned to Ronin when she heard the door close. 

“What happened to your hands?” 

He paused, having hoped to make a quick escape, but her voice didn’t hold the same amount of anger that it did before. He peeked across the room to the couch, but it seemed as though Kai had slipped out at some point. “Reeds.” He answered shortly. “Your boyfriend got tangled up when he fell in.”

She watched him for a moment, expression unreadable. “And you helped him get out?”

Ronin huffed. “Saved him, is what I did. I should be declared a saint, those things are hard to break.” 

Nya didn’t laugh at his quip, but she didn’t look upset anymore. “Thank you.”

He blinked at her. “Uh… yeah, sure, kid. No worries.” 

“He’s scared of you, you know. You did some messed up stuff.”

The man winced. “Yeah, I… yeah. I know.” 

“But I think that helped, today. What you did. I’ve never seen you two so relaxed with each other.”

Ronin opened his mouth, but she was still talking. 

“He’s been through a lot. And not just Ch…” she coughed. “You know. Not just that. Other stuff, too. He has a lot of nightmares. Things that… things that scare him. Thunder. Shouting. Small spaces. Sometimes you can’t even touch him or he’ll break down. It’s just- hard, I guess, to see him so scared all the time, and-” She choked, and he noticed tears welling up in her eyes. “Um, I’m just really… relieved that you would help him. Like that.”

In a moment, his arms were wrapped tightly around her. “I really love both of you. Zane is such a good person and you’re like my-” She hesitated briefly. “Like my dad, you know? I mean, I have my dad now, but it’s not… he’s great, but he wasn’t there. You were there. I knew you first.” 

Ronin wiped his eye with the back of his hand, fighting back the blur that was beginning to take over his vision. He rested his chin on top of her head and clutched her shoulder with a shaky hand. “I love you too, kid.” He managed to offer weakly. “And, uh- I guess if it’ll make you happy then I’ll try and get closer to your boyf- to Zane.”

“Thanks. But I… I don’t just want you to get close to him for me, I want you to get close to him for him. And for you, for that matter. You both deserve to move on.” He sniffled and she gave a short-breathed laugh. “Are you crying?” 

“No. Yeah.”

She moved her arms from his shoulders to his torso and squeezed. “Softy.” 

He ruffled her hair and she ducked away with a yelp. “I’m not the one who jumped into a lake to save a stupid rabbit.” 

“I’m not either!” She protested, picking up the animal in question from her spot on the furniture. 

“No, but you’re dating the guy who did.”

“So?” 

“So, by proxy, you-”

“No, nuh-uh- that’s not-”

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s- let’s just agree that Zane is the biggest sap in this house and call it good.”

Ronin gave an exaggeratedly thoughtful expression, as if considering the precis of a treaty, and Nya punched him in the arm. “Deal.” 

She smirked lightly. “Deal.” Abruptly, her expression turned sour and she wiped her arms on her pants. “No offense, but walking through the woods in that water didn’t do your hygiene any favors.”

Ronin shrugged. 

She stared him down unnervingly with her ashy brown eyes, but he refused to break in spite of the intimidation swelling in his stomach. “Go take a shower.” She ordered finally, and he grinned and saluted as he sauntered off in the direction of his room. While he gathered his clothes, he caught himself quietly whistling one of the carols that he had heard from Zane in the woods.

**Author's Note:**

> Ronin: ugh I cant believe i have to hang out with Zane. if it was up to me i'd just let him die lmao.
> 
> Zane: (falls into an icy lake)  
Ronin: (rescues him)
> 
> Zane: (sad eyes)  
Ronin: (clutches his heart and collapses to the ground in a fit of anguish)
> 
> Zane: (smiles)  
Ronin: (experiences pride and satisfaction)
> 
> Zane: (wants to tend to Ronin's wounds)  
Ronin: (lets him just to get him to stop worrying)
> 
> Zane: (whistles Christmas music)  
Ronin: (remembers and whistles it later too)
> 
> Ronin: frickin hate that kid


End file.
